IronMac wrote:I was reading the Saturday ST and in one of the opinion pieces on A45 (Willie Cheng) he states that two thirds of Singaporeans do not pay income tax.

I'm thinking...wait a minute...while all the foreign talents that they complain about do pay income tax.

And it's not that Singaporeans do not make enough for the cut off...the median income is well above the SGD22k or so a year for taxation purposes.

It's been my experience that with the various rebates/deductions etc most Singaporeans I know don't pay any income tax. Mind you they pay a lot in hidden levies, hidden fees, outright fees (COE), open levies (ERP).

Yep...but this is a factoid that I can now use against all of those people on other boards who keep saying that they do NS and so on to keep the foreigners safe. And the foreigners pay all of those hidden fees too and more!

Wah...you do two years...then do reserve and get paid at the same time...and for the rest of your life you pay little to no taxes. What you got to complain about?

The biggest difference in taxes is because CPF is not taxable, both employer and employee contribution. A foreigner on the other hand usually gets the employer contribution to CPF, in his take home and that evens out salarywise but taxwise the foreigner needs to pay higher.

But anyways, how much tax do we pay? I am in the border level P1 salary range and my tax is like only 3.5-3.8%. Thats like nothing. Its only the high flying expats that pay higher tax rates and at those salary levels, the locals too will pay similar amounts, as the rebates and reliefs wont have so much affect at those salary levels.

IronMac wrote:I was reading the Saturday ST and in one of the opinion pieces on A45 (Willie Cheng) he states that two thirds of Singaporeans do not pay income tax.

I'm thinking...wait a minute...while all the foreign talents that they complain about do pay income tax.

And it's not that Singaporeans do not make enough for the cut off...the median income is well above the SGD22k or so a year for taxation purposes.

It's been my experience that with the various rebates/deductions etc most Singaporeans I know don't pay any income tax. Mind you they pay a lot in hidden levies, hidden fees, outright fees (COE), open levies (ERP).

How about a real citation? So far, this thread has been bullsh*t like, "it's been my experience..." Proof, boys and girls... turn this thread into something rational instead of the crap that it is right now.

So I spent a few minutes filling out the tax calculator. I assumed husband and wife both working, total income S$60k, two kids and has parents and grandparents living with them. There were a few other minor allowances but I won't go into all the details.

I would have to wonder if the article was taking into account ONLY working adults or all Singaporeans who are not working (otherwise, only about 40% would of the working population are not paying any income taxes). But if you were to count ALL Singaporeans including those not working (e.g., retired or students) it could well be 2/3's. Singstat says in 2012 that the average income at the 50th percentile is around 7608/mo total per family household where at least one adult is working. They also go on to point out the average monthly household Income per household member of Resident employed Households is $1917 at the 50th percentile. At the 60th percentile the figure is still only $1917/per employed household member. take away the CPF contributions (4600) No tax. Raise it up to the 70th percentile and take away the employee cpf contributions (2355- 471= 1884 x 12 = 22608 the employee will only be paying taxes of $25 or less (if claiming wife relief, no taxes at all)